1) I want to be able to call U.S. PSTN, VOIP, or moblie numbers.
2) I want to be able to recieve from both
3) I want to be able to call my house phone, computer, or my family's mobiles
4) I currently do not have any VOIP service, I was waiting till I could research a good combo
5) No Gizmo5
7) 4 months but I will be going out there consistently so I would like a long term solution that I can activate for the 4 months while I'm over there and then turn off when I get back to the states
Thanks for all the help
As a 100% free solution, you may try some of the situations below that might cover all your needs, or you may sacrifice something in order to get the free and not very hard configuration.
Option #1
It would cover all your requests for free, but the setup will require work and besides I know it works I don't know how reliable on long term it is... But for the price you might want it.
A) Get a google voice number (free)
B) Get any free VOIP provider that offers free calls between users and is compatible with Ipkall. (you will have to research a bit on that or try a couple of them since they are free, examples would be
http://www.sipgate.com/,
http://www.callwithus.com/ or
http://www.mutualphone.com, but do your research. (If you use sipgate, they will give you a US number, so you might be able to skip the step C, and on step D you add you sipgate number to your Google voice account, did not tested but should work).
C) Get a free US number with Ipkall (Washington State only) that forwards the call to your new VOIP number. (Ipkall expires if there is no activity in 30 consecutive days. If this happen you loose the number but you can get another one for free)
D) Add your Ipkall US number on your list of phones on Google voice
E) Get Sipdroid from the market (free)
F) Get Google voice callback app from Xinlu, from the market (free)
Ok let's stop here for a moment, with the setup from A to F setup you will be able to receive and make calls to US over Wifi for free, but not between you and a computer. If you want to add that you will need:
G) Get a pbxes.com free account and setup your VOIP account there.
H) Install in the computer at your home a free softphone (like X-lite
http://www.counterpath.com/x-lite.html) and setup you pbxes credentials
Now in addition, you can make calls inside yours pbxes network for free using only internet in both ends.
I can suggest 2 more options that are cheap and do not require contract (they are pre-paid). One requires more work to setup but it will be cheaper and another much easier. Now, depending on how many minutes are you planing to use will make the difference in cost between the two options.
Option #2
A) Get a pre paid Betamax Voip service provider that includes US landline and mobile in the list of "free countries" (here is comparisson and names of several Betamax providers for you to research in case that you plan to call some place else than US
betamax price comparison )
B) Get a free US number to receive calls on
http://www.ipkall.com (Washington State area code only, but is free)
C) Create a free account on
www.pbxes.com and setup your voip provider
D) On your phone you will use the app sipdroid (free on market)
E) On other computers you will have to install a free softphone
Once everything is set, your phone will be connected to pbxes.
-If someone dial your US number pbxes will forward to your phone (this will be free)
-If you want to call a US number, pbxes will use your betamax credentials. (see below the explanation of the cost of Betamax)
- And between you and another computer it will be all inside your pbxes network (This is free as well)
*Betamax cost expanation: If you purchase a prepaid credit (the minimum you can add is 10 euros that if you pay with paypal at the end of the conversion it will be about $15 dollars) you will have 3 months of free calls to US and some other countries. After you run out of free days, the calls that you make will start to use your balance. At a rate of around 2 cents (more or less depending which provider you use) you will have a lot of use until you finish your credit. After that you add again the minimum and they will give you again 3 months for free + the money that you added.
This option is very cost effective, but will take some time for you to setup all this together.
I personally use 12voip.com from the Betamax providers, to make calls to Brazil. I have been using it for a couple years already. I put the 15 bucks and with that I call 3 months for free and after that the remaining balance let me talk about 3 more months, so is about $2.5 per month for me. After the free days is over, the money stays there and will not expire. You can leave the account with zero balance as well and whenever you are going to use again, then you just have add money to it.
Since receiving calls would be free and making calls out of free days would use your credit, if you are going to call home you may call and say to them to call you back, in that way you strech your credit for several months.
Option #3
Get a provider like
http://www.sipgate.com that will give you a free US number. Is pre paid as well and with sipdroid in your phone, you will be able to place and receive calls to US at 2cents per minute. Calls between you and a computer with another sipgate free account will be free.
This option is much more straight forward and cost effective to be connected with moderated use but if you are going to be a really heavy user the option #1 costs about the same but every time you add money they give you 3 months for free.
Off course that there is many other solutions or providers that other people can suggest or you will find on the internet, is up to you to decide what fits better your needs.
Anyway, I would give a shot to option #1. The setup from A to F is not very difficult, after that is a bit more complicated because it takes a little bit of reading and testing until you have your pbxes account up and working properly. I would try first with the Sipgate provider so in that way you don't need an extra step with Ipkall.
I can help you with the basics, but you should do your homework on each service on how to configure it.
There might be other options for free that I don't know and for sure there is a ton of other paid options that I don't know either.
I hope that this info would be helpful.
